Happy New Year Time Warpers !
It’s the end of a very eventful 2013 that had many ups and downs. We really hope everyone who supports our store has a great year ahead, and we would also like to thank all of you , because we really wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t for you. The great employees of the store this year were much appreciated too. Thanks to Clayton, Smurf, Scott, Kris and Chris, Georgia, and newest hire Darren. Special thanks to Tyler , who is leaving us this week for greener pastures. We all wish him well, and know he’ll succeed in his new endeavor. Of course that means we have an opening. We’re looking for a computer nerd who wants to list items on our eBay store, for starters. The position would also need to keep our website updated, etc. Please bring in a resume if this interests you.We need to fill this position quickly, so don’t wait too long.
Since I haven’t done a newsletter in months, I’ve neglected to tell you about cool stuff out now or coming soon. I just finished our December order for comics etc, coming out in February. Here’s a few highlights !
- Serenity :Leaves on the Wind # 1-6 Seems like there’s a lot of people out there who don’t know there is a sequel to the movie coming out starting in a couple of weeks. This should be a great series.
- Lobster Johnson : Get Lobster # 1-5 by Mignola and Zonjic .Will be fun.
- Justice League # 28 debuts DC’s new Metal Men. I really like the new designs and with Johns story and Reis art, this will be a sleeper. This should lead into a new MM series.
- Sandman : Overture # 2 will finally be released at the end of February. # 1 was a huge hit by Gaiman and J.H. Williams.Still in stock !
- The Fuse # 1 – Another new Image Comics # 1. It has gotten to the point that Image series have to all be ordered with great abandon, because you never know when the next hit will debut. Recently, titles such as Saga, East of West, Prophet,Lazarus,Velvet, Pretty Deadly and Black Science all have hit home runs, and all are best sellers for us. Image wins our publisher of the year hands down ! The Fuse is a new crime drama
- .Undertow # 1 is a new Image also, featuring Atlantis and a pulp adventure. Underwater series have been a tough sell forever, but DC has recently shown it can be done well with it’s current series “The Wake “
- Apocalypse Al # 1 – 4 is new from J. Michael Straczynski and Image.
- Mercenary Sea #1 and One Hit Wonder # 1 round out Image’s other new releases. Another one, also scheduled to come out here in January is Deadly Class # 1 .Looks like it could be a huge hit too.
- Wolverine # 1 – I don’t know why Marvel has to keep starting all their titles over with new # 1’s, but here we go again. The art by Ryan Stegman looks good.
- Fantastic Four # 1 is by James Robinson and Leonard Kirk -Special guest star Fing Fang Foom.
- Ms. Marvel # 1 – The new Muslim super hero . The cool thing about this title is that it is written by Boulder H.S. alumni G. Willow Wilson. I expect this to sell very well.
- She- Hulk # 1– A lot of people are already signing up for this, so I guess this is going to be more popular than I thought it would be.
- Winter Soldier: Bitter March # 1-5 – The star of the upcoming Captain America film.Rick Remender is writing this one.
- Loki : Agent of Asgard # 1 – All grown up now, Loki is back to mischief making.
- X- Force # 1 – Cable and his merry band of black -ops agents are back
- Amazing Spider- Man : Family Business H.C. -$24.99 – Written by Mark Waid and James Robinson, and painted by Gabrielle Dell’Otto. Peter Parker has to be saved by – His sister ?
Top 10 Comics of 2013: This list features the best sellers from our store this past year
Batman Superman #1
Batman #16
Batman #17
Superman Unchained #1
Batman #18
Guardians of the Galaxy #1
Age of Ultron #1
Batman #19
Saga #14
Batman #20
Top 10 TP of 2013:
Saga TP Vol 1 (152) Total copies sold -Quite remarkable
Saga TP Vol 2 (107)
Prophet TP Vol 1 (61)
Batman TP Vol 1 (48)
Hawkeye TP Vol 1 (45)
East of West TP Vol 1 (39)
Walking Dead TP Vol 18 (35)
Walking Dead TP Vol 1 (34)
Batman Dark Knight Returns TP (32)
Sandman TP Vol 1 (30)
Prophet TP Vol 2 (30)
Nemo Heart of Ice HC (30)
Last but not least, I always like to mention what I’ve been reading this past year that I’m enjoying. As I’ve been saying every year, each year seems to top the previous year, as I firmly believe we’re living through a new Golden Age of greatness,
In no particular order :
Saga – There’s a good reason we’ve sold so many of these. We all really like it. I’ve given a money back guarantee, and haven’t had to give it back once. Fantastic story and art.
Image had an awesome year. East Of West is another of my favorite books, and again, most of us here really enjoy this, and anything Hickman writes as a general rule.
Prophet continues to be a best seller, especially the trades.
In general, as mentioned above, Image had quite a few breakout series, especially late in the year.
Pretty Deadly and Black Science appear to be the two biggies, although Sex Criminals just keeps selling out of multiple printings and made most Top Ten lists this year.
Manifest Destiny #1 has also taken the comics world by storm , as it has also gone to a third printing already. Walking Dead continues to be one of my favorite series of all time.
Marvel Comics was hit or miss for me this year.
Getting critical acclaim and mentions on everybody’s best of lists this year were Hawkeye and Daredevil.
However, they weren’t my favorites. Mine was Thor, featuring a” Godbomb” story written by Jason Aaron and painted by Esac Ribic. This series blew me away, and really is my favorite Thor story of all time. I also like Superior Spider- Man. I protested too much when this was announced, but now I can hardly wait for each new issue. All New X-Men has turned into a really great read every month too. It’s a really well told time travel epic.
Infinity was a great mini- series featuring the return of Thanos.Avengers vs. X- Men was good, as was Battle Of The Atom, a X-men event.
DC had a pretty rough year, but maintains to churn out great Batman stuff. The main title, written by Snyder and drawn by Capullo, continues to be our best selling comic month after month. Batman Black and White has been good.The Batman Inc. storyline cumulating in the death of Damien was heart wrenching.
Forever Evil is a mini series I’ve really been enjoying, and DC had a real coup de gras this September with their lenticular covers. All our customers were able to get what they wanted for cover price or less if they ordered in advance.( Despite DC screwing the pooch on the whole thing).
I continue to enjoy Justice League, but since Johns has left, Green Lantern is leaving me cold.
Another of my favorites, Fables, will be ending next year (Boo). Wake was my favorite Vertigo mini-series.
I had lots of other great reads this past year, but overall, my reading was down due to increased Denver Comic Con duties, a European vacation and that crappy flood, which took a huge toll on me, my staff and many customers.
Also high on my list were:
Afterlife With Archie, The Private Eye ( Digital only), Battling Boy by Paul Pope, Hellboy In Hell by Mignola, Jupiter’s Legacy and finally- Rocket Girl with great art by Amy Reeder.
I’m sure I’m forgetting some unfortunately, and the employees here all had their own personal favorites too of course. Ask them what were their favorites when you see them.
Thanks for reading,
Wayne Winsett